After praising, and thanking God, he said: "O People, listen well to my words, for I do not know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and TAKE THESE WORDS TO THOSE WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE TODAY.

O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Treat others justly so that no one would be unjust to you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that HE will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (riba), therefore all riba obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital , however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer inequity. God has judged that there shall be no riba and that all the riba due to `Abbas ibn `Abd al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived.

Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that I waive is that arising from the murder of Rabi`ah ibn al Harith ibn `Abd al Muttalib.

O Men, the Unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calendar in order to make permissible that which God forbade, and to forbid that which God has made permissible. With God the months are twelve in number. Four of them are sacred, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Sha`ban. Beware of the devil, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

O People, it is true that you have certain rights over your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers. It is your right and they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste...

O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God (The One Creator of the Universe), perform your five daily prayers (salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your financial obligation (zakah) of your wealth. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.

All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

Remember, one day you will appear before God (The Creator) and you will answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

O People, NO PROPHET OR MESSENGER WILL COME AFTER ME AND NO NEW FAITH WILL BE BORN. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I am leaving you with the Book of God (the QUR'AN*) and my SUNNAH (the life style and the behavioral mode of the Prophet), if you follow them you will never go astray.

All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.

*The Qur'an: Revealed to Prophet Muhammad during the period from 610-632 AC. The first five verses revealed are: (1) Read in the name of your Lord, Who created. (2) Created man out of a clot that clings (in the womb). (3) Read and your Lord is the Most Bountiful. (4) Who taught by the pen. (5) Taught man that which he knew not.

The Last Sermon Confirms the Main Points from the Quran by Shahid Athar, M. D.

"Oh Prophet, We have sent you as a witness, news bearer and a warner and as someone who invites people to God by His permission and a shining Lamp" (33:45-46).

Prophet Muhanimad (PBUH) who was sent to mankind as a news bearer and a wamer for he spoke the truth and did not invent something of his own. The purpose of this article is to confirm the statements made by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during his farewell address during the last pilgrimage (10 AH).

After praising and thanking God, the Messenger said, "Oh people, listen to my words carefully for I know not whether I will meet you on such an occasion again."

TRUST AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Sermon: "Oh people, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Remember that you will indeed appear before God and answer for your actions."

Quran: "If anyone killed a person unless it is for a murder or spreading mischief on earth it would be as it he killed the whole mankind, and if anyone who saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of whole mankind" (5:32). "Then on that day not a soul will be wronged in the least and you shall but be prepaid in the needs of your past deeds" (36:54).

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS

Sermon: "Return the things kept with you as trust (amanah) to their rightful owners."

Quran: "If one of you entrusts (something) the one who has been entrusted with it should hand over his security and he should heed God and not hide any testimony. Anyone who hides it-has a sinfull heart" (2:283).

INTEREST (RIBAH)

Sermon: "All dues of interest shall stand cancelled and you will have only your capital back. Allah has forbidden interest, and I cancel the dues of interest payable to may uncle Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib."

Quran: "You who believe fear God and write off anything that remains outstanding from lending at interest if you are (true) God and His Messenger If you repent you may retail your principal do not wrong and you will not be wronged" (2:278).TREATMENT OF WIFE (SPOUSE)

Sermon: "Oh people, your wives have a certain right over you and you have a certain right over them. Treat them well and be kind to them for they are your committed partners and commited helpers.

Quran: "Provide for them the rich according to his income and the poor according to his means, a provision according to the custom. This is an obligation for those who act kindly" (2:236). "Treat them politely even if you dislike them,. Perhaps you dislike something in which God has placed much good" (4:19).

WARNING ABOUT SATAN

Sermon: "Beware of Satan, he is desperate to divert you from the worship of God so beware of him in matters of your way of life."

Quran: "Verily Satan is an enemy to you so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his followers that they may become companions of the blazing fire" (35:6).

BROTHERHOOD

Sermon: "Oh you people listen carefully. All the believers are brothers. You are not allowed to the things belonging to another Muslim unless he give it to you willingly."

Quran: "Believers are but brothers so set things right between your brothers and fear God so that you may find mercy" (49: 1 0).

SUPERIORITY IS ONLY IN PIETY AND SUBMISSION

Sermon: "Oh people, no one is higher than the other unless he is higher in obedience to God. No Arab is superior to a non-Arab except in piety."

Quran:"The most honored among you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you and God has full knowledge and is will acquainted (with all things)" (49:134). "Who can be better in religion than he who submits his whose self to God, does good and follows the ways of abraham for God did take Abraham for a friend" (4:125).

IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL WE MUST OBEY BOTH GOD AND HIS MESSENGER

Sermon: "Oh people, reflect on my words. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example and if you follow these, you will not fail."

Quran: "And obey God and the Messenger so that you may receive mercy" (3:132).

OBSERVE THE PILLARS OF ISLAM

Sermon: "Listen to me carefully. Worship God and offer prescribed prayer, observe fasting in the month of Ramadan and pay the poor-due."

Quran: "And establish the prescribed prayer, practice regular charity and bow down with those who bow down" (2:43). "Oh you who believe, fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that you may learn self-restraint" (2:183).

DUTIES REGARDING THOSE WORKING UNDER US

Sermon: "Oh people, be mindful of those who work under you. Feed and clothe them as you feed and clothe yourselves."

Quran: "Act kindly just as God treated you kindly" (28:77). "God has favored some of you over their provisions to those whom their right hand controls so that they become equal (partners) in it. Would they thus disclaim God's favor" (16:71).

MUHAMMAD WAS THE LAST PROPHET

Sermon: "Oh people, no prophet or messenger will come after me and no new faith will emerge."

Quran: "Muhammad is not the father of any of you men but he is God's Messenger and the Seal of Prophets. God is aware of everything" (33:40).OUR DUTY IS TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF THE PROPHET (QURAN)

Sermon: "All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again (and people did).

Quran: "Oh Messenger, communicate whatever has been sent down to you by your Lord. If you do not do so, you will not have conveyed his message" (5:67).

Sermon: Have I conveyed the Message of God to you? asked the Prophet facing towards the heavens. The audience answered in one voice, "You have, God is the witness."

Quran: As the Messenger finished the following revelation came to him, "Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed my favors upon you and have chosen for you Islam as the way of life for you" (5:3).

(JTA) — A Muslim organization in northern England announced it would raise funds and lobby for the preservation of the last remaining synagogue in Bradford.

The Bradford Council for Mosques recently began working together with the local authority to raise funds for the Bradford synagogue, to ensure the building remains a sacred space for future generations, the Telegraph reported on March 5.

“When the chair of the Bradford synagogue approached the Muslim community for help and assistance towards the maintenance of this building, it was a challenge which didn’t take us long to decide on,” Zulfi Karim, secretary of Bradford Council for Mosques, said.

The building was originally founded in 1880 and is an example of Moorish Victorian Architecture.

At the height of the city’s wool and textile boom many Jewish people came from Europe to settle in Bradford. In recent years the Jewish community in Bradford has been in decline, and the synagogue has been under threat of closure because of a lack of funds. Bradford had a Jewish population of roughly 500 in 2008, according to the BBC.

“We are all working together to save the synagogue with the help of the local authority,” Rudi Leavor, chair of the Bradford Synagogue, said:

Bradford has more Pakistani residents than any other place in England and Wales, according to a 2012 census. One in every five respondents identified themselves as an Asian or British Asian of Pakistani descent in the survey by the Office for National Statistics.

Finally a good post by Assmed...

Because it REALLY is news when the savages do anything positive. 99.9% of these stories lead to them burning shit down, so this is big news. Well done.

The strange thing about this "multicultural" society is that it can celebrate every imaginable culture except the one that allows all these cultures to co-exist alongside each other -- and all the time with enthusiasm from pundits and politicians, busy trying to pretend that this is all the most wonderful result imaginable.

The national census for England and Wales has come out, and, as usual, this once-a-decade event has had all of its most significant points overlooked.

By any measure, what it reveals is a country undergoing seismic change. Over the course of a decade up to four million more people have entered the country to live. In the capital, London, people identifying themselves as "white British" have for the first time become a minority. Perhaps most strikingly, the national Muslim population has doubled.

This last fact is perhaps one of the least considered of the census so far. Doubled? Surely not. This has to be the claim of Mark Steyn or some other demographics-obsessed nut. Well no, it isn't, and it is now official: between 2001 and 2011 the Muslim population of the UK rose from 1.5 million to 2.7 million. Otherwise put, that is an increase from 3 percent to 4.8 percent of the overall population.

If in 2001 the British Prime Minister had said to the British public that over the next decade he intended to double the number of Muslims in the country, he would most likely never have been returned to office. But of course he did not say that, any more than any of his successors or predecessors did.

For the last decade, every major politician has lied about this issue. While talking tough, about putting a cap on immigrant numbers, pushing people to assimilate and much else besides, they have done nearly nothing. For instance, ten years ago Home Secretary David Blunkett talked as tough as he thought he could, saying that migrants ought to learn English. His successor, Jacqui Smith, said the same thing five years later. As did immigration minister Phil Woolas a couple of years after that. Throughout the last decade the Labour government managed to do exactly what the Conservative and coalition governments before and after them have also managed to do: go as far as they thought they could in rhetoric while going wholly against what they said -- and the wishes of the country -- in actions.

Now we can see the fruits of their labors. The census reveals that three million people are now living in households where no adult speaks English as their primary language. As Labour's Sadiq Khan has admitted, local councils have spent their money on translation services rather than language classes, thus actually dissuading people from learning the language. The result is communities with inter-generational language barriers. There are parts of London where a quarter of the people are in the same situation. They have created a society where many people can speak about each other but many cannot actually speak to each other. And all the while politicians and pundits are busy trying to pretend that this is all the most wonderful result imaginable.

The London Evening Standard welcomed the news that white British-born people had become a minority in their own city, and ran a lead opinion piece accusing anybody unhappy about the doubling of the number of Muslims of being "Islamophobes." Since then, the comments have barely gotten more enlightened. The author Will Self declared on the BBC's leading talk show Question Time that people unhappy about the direction Britain is going on are "racists."

On the BBC's Newsnight I sat alongside two very nice, wealthy, successful immigrants who explained how positive the census results were for Britain, showing a "diverse" and "multicultural" society. I was the only one of the four panelists to point out that this wave of immigration might have any negative effects. And the only one to point out that the strange thing about a "multicultural" society of this kind is that it can celebrate every imaginable culture other than the one which allows all these cultures to co-exist alongside each other. In other words, it is the center which is the only thing not being celebrated, and the center that is being consciously eroded. Worst of all is that this happened in defiance of the repeatedly expressed views – as tested time and again in nationwide polls – of the general public.

Of course much of this simply confirms what the last Labour government appears to have intended. Three years ago, in the same Evening Standard, Andrew Neather, a former adviser to the Blair government, said that the huge upsurge in immigration over the last decade was in part due to a politically motivated attempt by Labour ministers radically to alter the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity.'"

He went on to say that Labour's relaxation of immigration controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration," but that ministers were nervous about discussing this move publicly because they feared that it would alienate their "core working class vote."

Well, they have certainly managed to do what they wanted. The Labour government, like the Conservative governments before them, and the coalition government since, did everything it could to ignore the real concerns expressed by the majority of the public. But with no decent mainstream party to vote for, the public kept voting for the same parties as usual. Fooled by the occasional speech saying that there was going to be some"'tough" new approach, the country got stuck in a debate that has been played on repeat. Yet all the time that debate-loop was going, the ground beneath us was changing unrecognizably.

Now, true to tradition, a couple of days after the census Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has come out to declare that immigrants to Britain should learn to speak English. It is exactly what all of his recent predecessors have also said, and it is exactly what none of them -- any more than he -- have done anything concrete about. Britain has been changed, and more change is on the way. Some of those changes might be good, and others are likely to be not as good. There are those who wanted this change to happen, and there are those who did not. The former now occasionally notice that their plan has caused troubles of which they were barely aware when they set out. The latter are reviled as backwards, racist, bigoted and out-of-touch with their new country. In reality they are simply people who once had a country and have seen it changed irrevocably, and simply hold on to a feeling of sadness that nobody thought about where this would take us, or whether we the people should ever be listened to in the little matter of our own future.

While protests against new mosques in New York, Tennessee and California made headlines, the overall number of mosques quietly rose from 1,209 in 2000 to 2,106 in 2010.

And most of their leaders say American society is not hostile to Islam, according to a comprehensive census of U.S. mosques and survey of imams, mosque presidents and board members released Wednesday.

"This is a very healthy community," said lead researcher and study author Ihsan Bagby, an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky.

They're also very engaged: The study finds "98% of mosque leaders say Muslims should be involved in American institutions and 91% agree that Muslims should be involved in politics."

The study — The American Mosque 2011 — was sponsored by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (Hartford Seminary), the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, as well as the nation's largest Islamic civic and religious groups, including the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Muslims feared being "marginalized, demonized and isolated" after 9/11, said Safaa Zarzour, secretary general of the Islamic Society. But the new study shows they have "kept their eyes on the prize — becoming part of mainstream America."

Major findings include:•States with the most mosques are New York (257), California (246) and Texas (166).•Most mosques are in cities, but 28% were in suburban sites in 2010, up from 16% in 2000.•Mosques are ethnically diverse. The major participants are South Asians, Arabs and African Americans, with growing numbers of new immigrants including Somalis, West Africans and Iraqis. The study did not include Nation of Islam mosques because it is a separate religion.•Most mosque leaders (87%) say "radicalism and extremism" are not increasing among Muslim youth, "in their own experience." They say the greater challenge is "attracting and keeping them close to the mosque."

All religious groups should be worried about losing their youth, said David Roozen, who directs the Hartford Institute, which overseas an every-decade look at the growth and health of U.S. religious congregations, Faith Communities Today.

Islam will continue to grow, he said, and the old summation of American religion -- Protestant, Catholic, Jew — may soon be revised. But it won't be Protestant, Catholic Muslim, Roozen said.

"The fastest growing group of all is those with no religion," Roozen said.

Although the study does not claim to say how many Muslims are in the USA, Bagby estimates there are 2.6 million "mosque participants" — people who have attended prayers for Eid (a major holy day) or Friday prayers or were considered participants by the mosque leader survey.Bagby says he reached the number by taking mosque attendance reported by the leadership and multiplying the average number of attendees by the number of mosques.

Bagby's report concludes, "If there are 2.6 million Muslims who pray the Eid prayer, then the total Muslim population should be closer to estimates (by Bagby) of up to 7 million."

No other survey projects even 3 million Muslims in the USA.

For example, a 2010 survey on global Muslim population by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found there were 2.6 million Muslims, including adults and children, in the country. And a 2011 survey by the same research group found 2.75 million Muslims, including 1.8 million adults.

Bagby disputes other studies, saying they underestimate because they are based on random phone interviews and many Muslims, particularly immigrants, will not discuss their religion with a stranger on the phone.

However, the Pew research, which included phone interviews in four languages, also synthesized data from the Census Bureau and immigration authorities. Pew used country-of-birth information with data from surveys on the percentage of people from each country, or group of countries, who belong to various faiths.

British Census: Islam is the fastest growing religionDecember 14, 2012

By Imaan Ali,

London: New census data has been released in UK and it has some new facts:-Islam is the fastest growing religion in UK-Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity-Indians are the largest ethnic minority-Christianity is on rapid decline.

The census is held every 10 years in UK and the latest was conducted in 2011, whose results were made public this week. The facts are based on how people identify themselves in terms of religion and racial ethnicity. Although it is contested that not everyone may be what they identify themselves as especially when it comes to racial ethnicity.

The census was based on 56.07 million people, and 33.7 million people identified them as Christians, whereas the number of self-identifying Muslims rose to 2.7 million, that is a rise from 3% to 4.8% of the population in last 10 years.

The Muslim Council of Britain has welcomed the result, saying Muslims were playing “a significant part in the increasing diversity of Britain.”

Islam’s 2.7 million adherents make it the second-largest religion in England and Wales, far ahead of Hinduism (817,000), Sikhism (423,000), Buddhism (248,000) and Judaism (263,000). The other fringe religions are pagan, pantheist, wiccan, satanist, druid, “Jedi Knight” and others.

This comes after the latest U.S. Religion Census that was released on May 1, 2012, which also found Islam as the fastest growing religion in America. The data for the census was compiled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, and the results were released by the Association of Religion Data Archives. From the year 2000 to the year 2010, the census found that the number of Muslims living inside the United States increased by about 1 million to 2.6 million – a stunning increase of 66.7 percent.

Thus Islam is the fastest growing religion in both US and UK according to the latest census reports announced this year. No wonder Barack Obama had recently said ’we are no longer a Christian country’. He wasn’t much off the mark.

The biggest surprise of UK census was the phenomenal increase of people who said they do not follow any religion and they increased from 7.7 million to 14.4 million almost doubling in last decade, which means more then quarter of people identify themselves as adhering to no religion. The assumption is that majority of these people identified earlier as Christians. This resulted in decrease in Christian’s population from 7r% to 59% in last decade alone.

In the U.S., by contrast, a 2007 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey found 16.1 percent of respondents identified as “unaffiliated” with any particular religion.

Major Christian denomination put up a brave face saying that most of the people who identified as Christians are practising one rather than the ones who associate themselves as ‘cultural christians’.The results of the UK 2011 census released this week apply to England and Wales only. Separate data from Scotland will be published shortly.

LOL George Bernard Shaw was an atheist, and so was Thomas Carlyle. One could argue also that Gandhi lost his faith at the end of his life. Probably not a good idea to use those who hear of Islam, investigate it and still reject it as salesmen for ISLAM.

It is hard to imagine what would make someone consider a murdering, raping paedophile to be the greatest man that ever lived, a man who has inspired terrorism and unimaginable suffering and continues to do so. What a sad indictment on humanity, especially those who follow this man, they surely lack any sense of natural morality or the education to know better.

I have no respect for you.Your a human scum.Not sure why the mods let you post in the religion section.

I have only pity for you. As a Muslim, Freedom of Expression riles you. Muslims can't stand the fact other people have a better system, a superior model to live by, they hate it when their obvious inferiority is rubbed in their face, how the only thing Modern Muslims have succeeded at is terrorism. I have more knowledge about religion in one of my hair follicles than you will ever learn in a thousand lifetimes. Hope this helps.